It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas-3rd and 10th December
by vivalafirefly
Summary: Prompt: "Realizing your so isn't the one/your so is cheating on you"
1. 3rd December

Christmas was in the air. Okay, maybe that was a little clichéd. But there was definitely something buzzing around lighting up the atmosphere.

There was nothing Snow loved more than Christmas. It was the perfect holiday with all her favourite things. Family and food and music and dancing and singing and decorations and charity and did she mention family.

She found herself practically skipping home, tight hold on her basket as it swung from side to side. The tune in her head refused to disappear, no matter how often she hummed it under her breath.

The basket held a very precious cargo. It was her and Charming's first Christmas together on this side of the curse, and she was determined to make it special. With a significant amount of pleading and guile she'd managed to convince Gold to sell her a particularly special item. He hadn't been willing to part with it that easily, and she'd found herself agreeing to watch the shop in his absence as he and Belle enjoyed their honeymoon. The look on Charming's face should make a weeks hard graft more than worth it. At least she hadn't had to sell her soul or anything.

This was going to be the perfect Christmas. They'd already divided the various Christmas day dishes between themselves, and they even had a rota for all the Christmas day visiting. As much as she enjoyed seeing the joy on all her friends and family's faces, the thing she was looking forward to most was the coming evening. Nothing could beat a cosy Christmas Eve at the Charming household. Charming had already chopped more than enough firewood to keep them toasty and bathe the entire room in a flickering glow for the night. Not that they'd need it with the plethora of fluffy clothes they had at the ready. There was an unopened bottle of mulled wine, Snow's favourite, just waiting to have their laughing lips wrapped round it.

Her pace picked up as she skipped along, desperate to get back home. She shifted the basket as she retrieved her key, mind still lost amidst dreams of a cosy Christmas Eve and imagining the look on Charming's face when he finally received his present.

After wrestling with the door, Snow bounded upstairs, bouncing with excitement. Dying to lay as many kisses on Charming's cute little face as she possibly could. "Charming, are you in? I've got the best news. Grandma gave me some of her freshest mince pies and they smell gorgeous. And I saw grumpy earlier and he…"

No. She wasn't seeing what she thought she was seeing. It wasn't possible. Her mind went completely blank, the song which had been flitting around her brain just suddenly went dead silent. There was no room for anything but the sight before her eyes. In the middle of the baby pink silk sheets, _their_ silk sheets, were two dirty sweaty horrible writhing bodies. And she knew one of those damnable bodies all too well. Knew every little crevice, every bump, every curve better than she could ever know even her own flesh. It was Charming. Charming naked. Charming naked, in their bed. Charming naked, in their bed with someone else. And with that the entire world came crashing down.

In the second it took her mind to process she felt her body move, hands clasped to her face, as she raced out of the room before she'd even identified the other person who had defied the sanctity of well…everything. Ignoring the shouts behind her she forced her way out, basket still clutched in her hand, as she ran off with crazy speed into the distance.

Lost in the pounding of her feet, her mind didn't even register the glowing darkness. The snow which had seemed so crunchy and festive earlier now just felt icy and wet. Ironic that her namesake could insight such misery and anger within her. It seemed like hours later when she found herself collapsing to the ground, cradling her arms about herself as the sobbing finally won over.

Eventually when she could feel her fingers turning blue and her tears turning to icicles, she turned back, stumbling through the glowing gloom until she came back to their…no not theirs any more…_the_ house.

Careful not to make any noise, she slipped the present out of the basket, carefully fingering the ring's intricate design. Giving Charming back his father's ring should have been the most joyous and satisfying occasion. It just wasn't fair. How could he do this to her, to them? She just couldn't comprehend it.

She grasped hold of the ring, letting the basket and the rest of its pathetic contents drop into the snow with a heavy thud.

A roaring scream left her lungs as she threw the cold metal as hard as she could against the hard wood door. A hail of expletives tumbled from her lips so fast that she surprised herself.

Ignoring the warm tears dripping into the snow, melting the horrible stuff back to a watery mess, she turned tail and fled. Refusing to look back, even at the creak of the doorhinge, she sped out into the darkness, only her sniffs and the sound of her hand scrubbing her cheek to break the silence.


	2. 10th December

**So the last part of the story seemed to be a little contentious (oops). Apparently some people don't like the suggestion that Charming could cheat on Snow. Sorry guys, but that was kind of the point of the fic. Whilst it was intended to be a standalone angsty one shot, I have been encouraged by the mysterious Raquel to continue the story, so I hope you're not disappointed Raquel.**

**So if like me, you like to see your favourite overly-happy characters being subjected to complete misery every once in a while, then feel free not to read this bit and instead stick to the previous ending. But this chapter is written for all of the Raquel's out there who need some fix-it-fluff.**

**Prompt: "Executing a surprise"**

**Prompt: ****"Oh gosh plz make Another chapter where she wakes up and it was all just a dream or better make it being davids twin brother (he wakes up from the death) cause unless my life is over after reading this but u did a great job"**

******xxxx******

As she tore through the night Snow's stomach was twisting and turning something rotten. Her entire life was ruined. She still couldn't process it. Even now she could almost hear the ghost of David's voice calling out to her. It caught on the wind, getting louder and louder as it yelled her name.

It took her an embarrassingly long time to realise that it wasn't actually a figment of her imagination, but the real life manifestation of her rotten cheating husband. Unfortunately her namesake was slowing her down too much to allow her to outrun his unwelcome greeting.

In fact, as she pushed on faster to get away from Charming, she felt her foot catch on something and her arms waved about in ungraceful circles as she struggled to right herself. She'd just managed to prepare herself with outstretched hands for the fall when a solid pressure grasped hold of her shoulders, steadying her wobbling stance.

Slowly, Snow turned round to face her saviour. Even after everything that had happened in the past few hours, his beautiful eyes still made the breath catch in her throat. Not allowing herself the chance to melt into his embrace, she angrily shook his hands from her arms.

"How dare you touch me! After everything. How dare you?!"Snow purposefully ignored the look of hurt that flashed across his face. It was good. He deserved it. And it most certainly didn't make a cloud of guilt flutter through her stomach. She decided right there and then that she wasn't going to listen to any pathetic excuse he could come up with.

Or at least she had decided that until he flashed her the puppy dog eyes and opened his treacherous mouth. "Just come back to the flat. Please. I'll explain everything."

"There's nothing you could possibly say that could make this better." She was amazed at how quickly the anger seeped out of her voice, just replaced with wary hurt.

"Please Snow, for us. For everything we are, everything we've thought through, please just come back and hear me out."

Before she'd even had chance to think she'd given a nod. How could she be so weak? This was the man that had cheated on her. Had torn her heart from her chest (not literally thankfully). And now she was going back to their home. The home which he had violated. And she was returning on his terms. He hadn't even had to push her particularly hard. At least this way she could know for certain. Get some closure. That's what everyone wanted right? That would make her feel better.

And so she started marching, keeping her step at a fast pace and her face held in a harsh mask. Things between them had never been so awkward, not in either land. Even when they'd first met there had been plenty of quips and arguments to keep the conversation going. Now Charming seemed sensible enough not to try to talk to her, and Snow knew that as soon as any form of discussion started she was going to have a major breakdown.

So David remained a silent figure beside her, merely flanking her with a pained expression on her face. Every so often Snow would start to slip and found herself being rescued by a hand on her back or her arm. As helpful as those touches were, she found herself soon shaking them off, following the gesture with a forceful glare as she tried not to choke up. Never again would he be there to catch her when she fell. That part of her life was over.

The journey back to the house seemed to take forever. Each moment stretched out for an eternity until they came to the oh-so-familiar door. In the doorway hung a solitary figure. He seemed to be keeping and something about his silhouette seemed familiar to Snow.

As she drew closer her mind was set awhirling. Of course that silhouette was familiar, it matched the one currently walking beside her down to the smallest detail. How was that possible? Two Charmings.

A few feet from the door she slowed to a stop, meaning that the David behind her ended up slamming straight into her back. Her brain was awash with the possibilities, and it seemed she'd caught up when the David at her side, her David, was waving his arm out to his doppelganger. "Snow, this is Prince James. He turned up earlier, and I thought it'd be a nice surprise. Obviously it didn't turn out quite like that, but…"

Her body still took a second to catch up with her brain as her mouth hung open in surprise.

The other guy awkwardly shifted from one foot to the other, giving her a small smile "Yeah, I think we met a little earlier. Ermmm…I'm sorry about that. Surprise!"

"So you…" Her gaze flicked from James to David "And you.."

David held her eyes, sincerity marked across all his features. "I would never cheat on you, Snow. I love you. There could never be anyone else in my life, ever."

Before he had chance to utter another syllable she had propelled herself into his arms, hugging him hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs. Snow clutched him tight, determined never to let him go again. Everything felt right again. Her whole world crashed right back into where it was supposed to be as she gasped endless thanks and apologies.

"I'd say we should go get James settled, but given the circumstances it seems he's already made himself at home." The annoyance in Charming's voice was clearly directed at his brother. "But what d'ya say we move this inside?"

Snow happily allowed her perfect non-cheating wonderful understanding husband to tug her inside, still whispering 'sorry's and 'I'm so silly's into his lapel.

****xxxx****

So it turned out that Snow didn't get the Christmas Eve she wanted. Nope, nowhere near. Instead it was so much better. If nothing else, she'd gained a brother-in-law.

She shouldn't have been surprised, but David had quickly forgiven her lack of trust, and had proved as understanding as ever. And after setting down groundrules about James having houseguests and burning the pink bedsheets, James had also settled down quite famously into their little routines. Of course he had his faults (including the defiling of other people's beds), and could be a little egotistical and annoying at points. But he was family, and Snow found herself increasingly taking to him. He also got brownie points for facing frostbite to comb the frozen front step to locate Charming's dad's ring.

Snow was a little ashamed to admit that the highpoint of her evening was the moment when their new guest had declared that he was going to go visit a 'friend' and wouldn't be back until much later in the evening. But she was a little too giddy to feel guilty for long.

So after all the unnecessary sorrow and heartbreak, Snow found herself wrapped up every woolly item she owned, happily perched on David's lap as they stared into the glowing embers of the fire. The mulled wine tasted even more gorgeous than expected, with some extra-Christmassy spicy aroma wafting through the air. But the thing she had loved the most was the look of pure joy and contentment that spread across David's face when he'd set eyes on his Christmas present.


End file.
